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Jamestown was one of the first attempts to establish a colony by the English settlers. The key word in the previous sentence: attempts. This word implies that the feat attempted was not a success, and in this case, the implication is quite correct. Jamestown failed because of severely strained Indian relations over resource supplies, an almost absolute lack of planning, which is a result of insufficient leadership, and environmental issues including lack of reliable water sources. Jamestown failed because of strained Indian relations, including conflicts over food, water, and land resources. Jamestown was settled on an island so that the colony could be fortified from Indian attacks. Also, none of the Powhatans, a strong confederacy of natives, were not settled there, so the English colonists thought it would be an ideal location. Despite their “ideal” choice, the colony still suffered Indian attacks, the first being by a group that did not trust the white settlers (Doc. E). Also, the settlers arrived right in the middle of a horrible drought. This drought was later called The Jamestown Drought, and it had severe effects on the Jamestown and the colony’s relations with the natives (Doc. B.). Most colonists did not farm and relied mostly on the Powhatans to trade food supplies. The drought lessened this vital trade. A drought brought crops that would have withered and died from the lack of rain essential to the plants. Another incident with natives included a man named Francis West. The colonists were starving because of the Jamestown Drought, and needed some source of food. Thus, West sailed to the Chesapeake Bay, and hoped to trade with the Patawomeke Indians for grain. This particular group of natives had not heard very much about the English, and were friendly. West loaded the boat with grain, but in the process he beheaded two of the Indians and cut off other extremities (Doc. D.) The ship returned to Jamestown, leaving the Patawomke stewing and furious...

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...Why Did So Many Colonists Die?
Jamestown had been one the first English settlements in the New World. The English had settled here before the Pilgrims’ predestination. Jamestown is known for its hard living conditions and its difficulty to grow crops. During the spring of 1607, King James I sent out over 100 passengers to sail into the Chesapeake Bay. John Smith was a dominant figure that helped the colonist get through their first year in the wilderness. But as time went by, not all of those settlers would be alive. The environment and climate, food source, and different occupations were the few reasons why so many colonists died during 1607-1612.
The English settlers settled in James River, known as Jamestown, because it has met the requirements of the London Company instructions. They settled, not knowing that the environment in Jamestown would be tough. Jamestown had brackish water, water that had become salty over time. The water had become brackish due to the moon causing water waves to move and eventually those tides took over their fresh water. The environment of Jamestown was also affected due to many settlers dumping their waste in the water thinking it would flush away, but in reality it would just sit there, causing the water to become fester and making people sick. Document A describes how Jamestown’s environment became a hard obstacle. Although John Smith was a leader, he...

...beginning. The two sides conducted business with each other, the English trading their metal tools and other goods for the Native Americans’ food supplies. At times the Indians showed generosity in providing gifts of food to the colony. On other occasions, encounters between the colonists and the tribes turned violent, and the Native Americans occasionally killed colonists who strayed alone outside the fort.
On May 21, 1607, a week after the colonists began occupying Jamestown, Newport took five colonists (including Smith) and 18 sailors with him on an expedition to explore the rivers flowing into the Chesapeake and to search for a way to the Pacific Ocean. On returning, they found that the colony had endured a surprise attack and had managed to drive the attackers away only with cannon fire from the ships. However, when Newport left for England on June 22 with the Susan Constant and the Godspeed—leaving the smaller Discovery behind for the colonists—he brought with him a positive report from the council in Jamestown to the Virginia Company. The colony’s leaders wrote, and probably believed, that the colony was in good condition and on track for success.
The report proved too optimistic. The colonists had not carried out the work in the springtime needed for the long haul, such as building up the food stores and digging a freshwater well. The first mass casualties of the colony took place in August 1607, when a combination of bad water from the...

...Denise Gilbert
History 108
Mr. Marcum
November 20, 2012
Rethinking Jamestown
Sheler, Jeffery L.
The article Rethinking Jamestown was written by Jeffery Sheler in January 2005 the article is about the Archaeological finds of the original fort built in 1607-1620. The author goes in depth of what artifacts were found, and when the artifacts were used. It also references how Jamestown was formed, and other facts about Jamestown the original fort.
The author backs up his thesis with facts found in the archaeological finds of Jamestown along with historic writings from those who survive the first few years at Jamestown. Through these writings people have an idea of what Jamestown went through in its first few years. Jamestown was not just a colony that survived and grew from its establishment; it was a township of a way of life for those who lived there. Each colonist having some duties in the colony taking strength from each other and supporting each other in order to survive.
In 1585 the first established English settlement in “The New World” was Roanoke Colony commonly referred to as “The Lost Colony of Roanoke.” Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in “The New World” established by the Virginia Company of London in 1607. Jamestown was the 1st capital of the colony for 83 years (from 1616 until 1699)....

...David A. Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf)
As a young child many of us are raised to be familiar with the Pocahontas and John Smith story. Whether it was in a Disney movie or at a school play that one first learned of Jamestown, students want to believe that this romantic relationship really did occur. As one ages, one becomes aware of the dichotomy between fact and fiction. This is brilliantly explained in David A. Price's, Love and Hate in Jamestown. Price describes a more robust account of events that really did take place in the poorly run, miserable, yet evolving settlement of Jamestown, Virginia; and engulfs and edifies the story marketed by Disney and others for young audiences. Price reveals countless facts from original documents about the history of Jamestown and other fledgling colonies, John Smith, and Smith's relationship with Pocahontas. He develops a more compelling read than does the typical high school text book and writes intriguingly which propels the reader, to continue on to the successive chapters in the early history of Virginia.
The thesis of the book is; although the excitement and thrill of settling a new colony in Virginia brought love and happiness to the settlers, the constant fear of survival and the lack of judgment and skilled workmanship brought about much misery and hatred between...

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Jamestown Colony
Caitlyn Paquin
American Military University
History
101
Traci Summer
September 21, 2014
Jamestown Colony
Established as the first permanent English settlement on the banks of the James River, Virginia in 1607 – the Jamestown colony consisted of about 100 members from Europe looking to expand the European Nations. Sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, the roughly 100 members set sail for their voyage on three ships (the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery), in 1606, with John Smith as the Captain, and arrived in North America several months later in April 1607.
The First Years and Its Growth
The settlement consisted of a storage house for supplies and weapons, a church and some homes. After some time at the settlement, a group of members left to obtain more supplies and report back to King James I. With the constant threat of attack from the Algonquians, hunger and illness, the settlers left behind suffered tremendously. Captain John Smith became leader of the settlement in 1608 and later reached a trade agreement with the Chief Powhatan in 1608. The first 2 women also arrived at the new settlement, with more that came later on.
Smith returned to England in late 1609 and the settlers left were hit with a harsh winter and more than 100 of the settlers died. Many of the colonists were made up of upper-class Englishmen and lacked in skilled laborers and farmers. While Smith never returned...

...The Jamestown Settlement
"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth." -John Adams. Jamestown, Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the New World.
The Jamestown Colony is a town in Virginia. It is the oldest, and first, English colony in North America. The London Company, formed in 1606, was a group of ten men, mostly well-to-do merchants, who decided to colonize Virginia (Fishwick, 49). Francis Bacon, a member of the Company, decided the colony was to be a long-term scheme and settlers were to be given twenty years to find their feet (Fishwick, 49). Settlers were selected for their special skills, and included many farmers so the colony could become self-sufficient. The Colonial Council was a group of thirteen settlers who would be directed by a royal council of thirteen in England (Fishwick, 49). One member was selected to be the president, and he would make laws, vote taxes, mint money, and dispense justice in Virginia (Fishwick, 49). The settlers were granted “all rights and immunities…” of citizens in England, including the right to own land and trial by jury (Fishwick, 50). All taxes on trade with Virginia were used to benefit the colony. The London Company set sail from Blackwell, England, on December 20, 1606...

...factor in the survival of their newly structured communities.
James I issued his charters in 1606, the London Company then sent three ships with 144 men to Virginia. The Godspeed, Discovery, and Susan Concept left in 1607 and arrived in Chesapeake Bay later that spring. Jamestown was established on a peninsula that they believed would give adequate security from other inhabitants. It turned out the land was very swampy and surrounded with a thick forest. Between the voyage over to the new world and all new diseases the Europeans were exposed to, only 38 were alive after by 1608. John Smith arrived and brought Jamestown back to it's feet by planning raids on Indian tribes for food. The people of Jamestown had hope again and started to show that they had what it took for the colony to survive.
By 1609 the London Company had changed its name to the Virginia Company along with obtaining a new charter which allowed them to try an even bigger migration. The charter sent Lord De La Warr to be the first governor. It also allowed planters to buy stocks in the company if they would immigrate at their own expense. The high hopes in the new charter started to fade when two of the nine vessels did not make it to Jamestown, one was lost during a hurricane, while the other washed ashore in the Bermuda Islands. After Lord De La Warr arrived with the other colonists the effort to turn a profit was back on schedule. Virginia was...

...﻿Shannon Springstead
Honors US History 1
09/09/13
JamestownJamestown settlement was the first successful establishment when the 13 colonies on North America were founded. In 1606, King James I sent a charter known as the First Charter of Virginia to the Virginia Company in order to assign land rights to colonists. By assigning land rights, King James I had a better grip on propagating the Anglican Religion to the settlers. He also had the intentions of rectifying other countries from Europe at this time from expanding overseas, and he wanted to locate a northwest passage to Asia. Virginia Colony was one of the 13 colonies in Colonial America, and this is where Jamestown was located. The London Company—later known as the Virginia Company, originally founded Jamestown when some 100 English colonists under the command of John Smith, set out to settle in Virginia. These sailors were sent not only to settle here but also to find gold and a water route to the Orient. On May 14, 1607 the Virginia Company landed on the banks of the James River to establish the Virginia English colony.
The first settlers of Jamestown faced many hardships because they were the first to inhabit the land and they contracted many diseases, went through a famine, lacked fresh water, and had many conflicts with neighboring Native Americans. There was originally no proper food supply so many people starved to death, and...